You Don’t Need To Play EVE Online To Love It

I think I’m in love with the idea of EVE Online more than the actual day-to-day gameplay. This isn’t to say that I don’t like the gameplay mechanics, it’s just that they really aren’t as thrilling as the forces of nature that drive the game. The politics, the backstabbing, the huge intergalactic wars and they stories they tell. These are the things that inspire my love of EVE and what make me want to play it.

I think all MMORPGs are a little like this. Does anyone actually enjoy pressing a couple of buttons on a keyboard or moving a mouse around? I don’t think so, it’s not exactly thrilling stuff. I actually think the attraction of MMOs is not the gameplay, but the incentives of mental hubris they allow us to desire. If everyone was equal in World of Warcraft, would everyone play?

I don’t mind the fact that I don’t get to play EVE a lot. Sure, I play a few hours every week but that’s a drop in the pond compared to the gazillion of hours I pumped into Everquest and Everquest 2. But that’s OK. See, you don’t need to play EVE Online to love it. You can read about it, watch it, study it… it’s, quite literally, another world just waiting to be observed by MMO anthropologists.

To prove my point, here’s a series of great articles from Rock, Paper, Shotgun about life in EVE Online:

Now i just want to grab you by the indie-kid hair and scream “GET. IN. A ****ING. CORP!” whilst slapping you around.

Even the articles you linked are all about events that you could only experience in a corp….

Personal advice – go join one of the FW militias. Joining as an individual will move you into the militia’s NPC corp. Once you’ve been flying in the militia fleets for a while, you could always apply to one of the player corps in your militia (once you know who the guys you think you’d like to play with are). But, in the meantime you get to experience a new part of the game and get the togetherness of a corp (or close to it) through militia chat and fleets, without worrying about joining up to a corp and then having to commit time to it. Also, you don’t need to give up the missions while you are militia so you don’t loose any part of the game you have now.

I only recently left minnie militia and there are some great guys in there so would recommend that. I’m sure all militias have good people in them though so just choose one you have the standings for.

In my opinion, EVE is only good when you find a good group of people you enjoy playing the game with. That involves getting into a good corporation, then getting to the people in that corporation. The trick is to place yourself where the action is.

FREGE!? Oh, wow – I was in their corp until they dissolved. They then started Crinkly Ninjas, but that didn’t last. A handful of them went to M Corp. Anyway, you may still remember orionbeta and twiddledumb. So, you don’t play anymore, Marchosias?

Anyway, Gordon, in Eve, there’s a stage where you need to persist through. I didn’t fall into that, though, since I started in lowsec with FREGE, but most players end up on Eve with no comrades and that sucks. The beginning sucks a bit if you expected a whole lot from it. I’ve been on for a while now with nice skills accumulated and it’s a blast. I suggest you give it another go!

Who am I?

Gordon was born on the mean-streets of suburban Holland and learned to fist fight without remorse in steel cage matches at an early age. He now lives in Edinburgh with his wife and their imaginary Nigerian bodyguard, Mr Itunu.